Letter folder and envelope inserter

ABSTRACT

A letter folder and envelope inserter is described in a compact housing assembly. Envelopes are automatically removed from a stack and fed to an envelope stuffing station where a rotating roller operative against the upper edge of the envelope pocket opens the pocket. A paper enclosure such as a letter or invoice is automatically folded by passage through pairs of folding rollers and delivered over the pocket opening roller into the envelope pocket. A compact assembly and control system is described for operation of the folder-inserter.

United States Patent 11 1 A 1111 3,797,

Harbison 1451 Mar. 19, 1974 [5 LETTER FOLDER AND ENVELOPE 2,914,89512/1959 Martin 53/117 x lNSERTER [75] Inventor: Charles H. Harhison,Birmingham, Pnmary E'mmmer Travls S McGehee Attorney, Agent, orFirm-William D. Soltow, Jr.; Al-

bert W. Scribner; Martin D. Wittstein [73] Assignee: Pitney-Bowes, lnc.,Stamford, Conn. 22 Filed: Dec. 4, 1972 ABSTRACT A letter folder andenvelope inserter is described in a compact housing assembly. Envelopesare automatically removed from a stack and fed to an envelope [52] US.Cl 53/55, 53/117, 53/188, stuffing station where a rotating rolleroperative 53/384 against the upper edge of the envelope pocket opens[51] Int. Cl.., B65b 57/06, B65b 63/04, B65b 43/22 the pocket. A paperenclosure such as a letter or in- 21 Appl. No.: 311,826

[58] Field of Search 53/55, 58, 117, 186, 187, voice is automaticallyfolded by passage through pairs 53/ 188, 384 of folding rollers anddelivered over the pocket opening roller into the envelope pocket. Acompact assem- [56] References Cited bly and control system is describedfor operation of UNITED STATES PATENTS the folder-Insert- 2,728,l7812/1955 Kern 53/117 X 20 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 1 i 2 7e 92 90 l 18'42 3a 45 112 K I \\/Y .rllb 2 PATENTEU "AR 1 9 I974 SHEET 2 0F 5 FIG.2

PATENTEBIIAR 1 9 mm 3.797; 198

sum 3 or 5 FIG. 3

} uo FOLDER DRIVE ENVELOPE DRIVE I l l f CAM omve SHEE PATENTEUMAR 19I974 INPUT POWER cYc\ E l cvcua 2 1 SWITCH LETTER TPJP SWITCH l N6 I CAMLATCH SWITCH FOLDER CAM SWITCH ENVELOPE CAM SWITCH EENVELOPE 46 TRIPSWITCH l ENVELOPE DRIVE CAM DRIVE slvsmss PATENTED MAR 19 I974 SHEET 50F 5 LETTER FOLDER AND ENVELOPE INSERTER FIELD OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to an apparatus for stuffing envelopes. Morespecifically, this invention relates to an apparatus which automaticallyfolds an enclosure such as a letter or an invoice and subsequentlyautomatically inserts the folded enclosure into an envelope.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Devices for folding of enclosures such asletters and automatically inserting these into envelopes have beenpreviously described in the art; see for example U. S. Pat. No.2,771,726 which issued to Owen et al. In this patent a letter isautomatically folded by feeding it through folding rollers oriented in aselected manner with buckle chutes. The folded letter is thenautomatically inserted with a reciprocating ram into an automaticallyopened envelope. U. S. Pat. No. 2,766,569, which issued to Strother etal, also describes a mail folder and envelope inserter. Other sheetfolders may be found in the art such as in U. S. Pat. No. 3,510, 122 toGavaghan.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In an envelope stuffing apparatus in accordancewith the invention, an automatic envelope opener is employed whereinenvelopes are continually fed to an envelope stuffing station where aroller engages the upper edge of the envelope pocket to open the pocket.Enclosures are then fed over the roller into the pocket. The

use of an opening roller conveniently eliminates reciprocating envelopeopening elements and enables the formation of a compact envelopestuffer.

As'described with reference to a preferred embodiment for a letterfolder and envelope inserter in accordance with the invention, foldingrollers for forming a double fold are vertically arranged to deliver afolded enclosure over an envelope opening roller into an envelopepocket. The arrangement of the folding rollers and theenvelope stuffingstation enhances the compactness of the folder-inserter which isparticularly suitable for use .in offices with copying machines.

As further described with respect to the preferred embodiment, theassembly of thefolder-inserter includes a housing having a plurality ofparallel channels in opposing side walls to retain various componentswhich form the apparatus. 7

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a compactenvelope opener for automatic stuffing with enclosures such as letters,folded sheets and the like. It is a further object of the invention toprovide a compact automatic letter folder and envelope inserter.

. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS These and other advantages and objectsof the invention will be understood from the following description of apreferred embodiment described in conjunction with the drawings whereinI FIG. 1 is a perspective'view of a folder-inserter in accordance withthe invention in use with an office copy- I I FIG. 4 is a schematic ofdrive elements and control circuitry employed in the operation of thefolderinserter of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a timing diagram for several components employed in thecontrol circuitry shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of an envelope opener inaccordance with the invention; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view of an operating envelope opening rollerin accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to FIG. 1, afolder-inserter 10 is shown mounted to receive duplicates 12 fromoutfeed 14 of a copying machine 16. Duplicate sheets 12 are depositedupon a downwardly inclined infeed tray 18 which guides sheets 12 intothe folder-inserter 10 at one side of a housing 20. Envelopes 22 arestored on an infeed platform 24 located on another side of housing 20.The stuffed envelopes emerge from a bottom outfeed 26 and are depositedon a removable tray 28.

The folder-inserter 10 is shown mounted to the inside of a door 30 of acabinet 32 on which copying machine 16 is placed. Housing 20 is formedwith a pair of spaced parallel walls 34-34 having internally faceddove-tail shaped channels 36 to retain the various components such asinfeed tray 18. The latter traymay be removed by sliding it upwardlyalong its mounting channels 36. The convenience and compactness offolder-inserter 10 may be appreciated by virtue of the fact thatfolderinserter 10 may be stored in cabinet 32 after out-feed tray 28 andinfeed tray 18 have been removed and door 30 is closed.

Folder-inserter 10 is particularly useful in small offices whichrequire, for example, billing of a large number of clients on a monthlybasis. In such use an updated statement is fed into a copying machine 16which delivers a duplicate 12 of the statement on in-feed tray 18. Theduplicate slides down along infeed tray 18 into inserter-folder 10 whichfolds the duplicate into a size for automatic stuffing into an envelope22. Envelopes 22 are preferably provided with a transparent window andthe billing statement includes an address at a location selected toappear through the envelope window when folder-inserter 10 has stuffedan envelope. Hence, the only remaining secretarial task is to seal andapply postage to the envelopes.

In the section view of folder-inserter 10 in FIG. 2, a stack ofvertically seated envelopes 22 is shown with flaps 38 of envelopes 22facing housing 20 and a flap engaging hook 40. A pair of primaryenvelope feed rollers 42-42 are in contact with the front envelope todrive it downwardly along path 44 and over a trip arm 45 of" an envelopesensing element such as a double pole switch 46 to an envelope stuffingstation 48. Path 44 is aligned so that envelopes 22 will pass between apair of feed rollers 50-50. The operation of rollers 50-50 is so timedwith the use of switch 46 that when an envelope flap 38 passes betweenthem and the upper edge 52 of the envelope pocket 54 engages an envelopeopening roller 56, the envelope feed is stopped to await stuffing of anenclosure.

The envelope opening rollers 56 rotate in a direction indicated by arrow58 towards and against upper edge 52 which opens to receive foldedletters arriving through a channel 60 aligned to pass letters overopening roller 56 into pocket 54.

Enclosures for envelopes 22 slide down in-feed tray 18 over a trip-arm62 of an enclosure sensing switch 64 to actuate control circuitry aswill be further described. Tray 18 is aligned with a sheet folder 66formed of four sets of folding rollers 68, 70, 72 and 74 and a pair ofbuckle chutes 76, 78. When sheet 12 is deposited on tray 18, the sheetis passed between folding rollers 68, 70 which drive the front edge ofthe sheet up into the first buckle chute 76. When the front edge engagesstop 80, the sheet buckles and the fold is passed between foldingrollers 70, 72. When the fold encounters stop 82 in the second bucklechute 78, the sheet buckles again to form a second fold which passesbetween folding rollers 72, 74 into channel 60. The twice folded sheetis then passed between folding rollers 72, 74 into channel 60 and overopening roller 56 into a waiting and opened envelope 22.

The assembly of folder-inserter utilizes channels 36 in walls 34-34 asshown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Channels 36 are T-shaped with bracket retainingvertical slots 84 located between channels 36.

The mounting of components to walls 34-34 utilizes channels 36 and slots84 in a flexible and varied manner. Thus, folding roller 68 is mountedon end bearings 86-86, each of which has an outer housing 88 shaped tofit in the wide segment of a channel 36. Buckle chute 76, which isformed of a pair of laterally spaced brackets 90, 92 is shaped so thatbracket 90 has a vertical edge 94 mounted in a slot 84 and a horizontalextension 96 located in the wide portion of a channel 36. The flap hook40 is attached to a horizontally disposed rod 98 which fits in a channel36 and permits pivot movement of hook 40. A Z-shaped envelope stacksupport bracket 100 extends vertically along a channel 36 with an edge103 captured by lip 104 of wall 34. One side 106 of Z- shaped bracket100 seats against lip 104 to form a sturdy support for envelope in-feedtray 24.

The folding rollers 68, 70, 72 and 74 are mounted in a common slot toform a vertical arrangement for a compact sheet folder as shown in FIG.2. The location of buckle chutes 76, 78 on opposite sides of the foldingrollers facillitates the assembly of the sheet folder into a compactstructure.

The drive for the folding rollers is applied from a motor 110 through atiming belt 112 coupled both to folding rollers 74 and pocket openingroller 56. The folding rollers 68, 70, 72 and 74 are held in contactingrelationship with a pair of end-located springs 114 (only one spring 114being shown in FIG. 3). Springs 114 are wrapped around bearing housings88-88 to transfer the drive from roller 74 to the other rollers.

The drive for envelope feeding is obtained from a motor 116 and a timingdrive belt 118 coupled to rollers 42, 50. Separate drive motors 110, 116are used to enable the folder-inserter to be operated in a preferredcycle whereby envelopes are fed from their stack position on tray 24 tothe stuffing station 48 to await arrival of a folded sheet. Instead ofseparate motors, a single motor with a disengageable drive for the sheetfolder 66 could be used.

The operation of folder-inserter 10 may best be explained with referenceto the circuit shown in FIG. 4 and the timing diagram of FIG. 5. Adouble poled power switch 130 controls the delivery of AC line power tothe folder-inserter 10 on lines 132, 134. Line 134 is coupled to thepower returns of envelope motor drive 116, enclosure folder drive motorand a timing motor 136.

Timing motor 136 drives a set of three cams (not shown) which controlrespectively a latching cam switch 138, folder cam switch 140 and anenvelope cam switch 142. The cams which control these latter switchesare of convential design and are shaped and positioned to actuate theswitches in the manner as explained with respect to the operation offolder-inserter l0.

When power switch is closed at time t, (see FIG. 5), power is applied tolines 132, 134, but no operation occurs until a letter is dropped onin-feed tray 18 and slides down to actuate normally open switch 64 attime t Closure of letter trip switch 64 commences operation of timer camdrive 136, one of whose cams causes a closure of latching switches 138at time t As soon as latching switch 138 has closed, power bypassesletter switch 64 so that the timing motor maintains itself energizeduntil the end of the cycle.

Shortly after timing motor 136 has been energized, the letter folder camcauses a closure of folder cam swtich 140 at time Thus, in turn,actuates folder drive motor 110 which commences to feed the input letterthrough letter folder 66 towards stuffing station 48. Removal of aletter from in-feed tray 18 reopens letter trip switch 46 at time rSince the folder cam switch 140 remains closed until a folded letterarrives at stuffing station at about time t, and since the envelope feedhas as yet not been energized, the first folded letter does not getinserted into an envelope and emerges on tray 28 for inspection toconfirm a proper folding operation. Folder drive is terminated at timeI, when folder cam switch 140 is reopened.

At a time following actuation of the folder drive, envelope cam switch142 is closed, initiating a feed of an envelope towards stuffing station48.

The front envelope 22 is moved down from its position on tray 24 alongpath 44. As the envelope is moved, its flap 38 catches on hook 40 whichretains a sufficient hold to rotate flap in the direction of arrow 144(see FIG. 2) and expose the pocket of the envelope. Flap 38 is rotatedinto a plane parallel with the main envelope so that envelope tripswitch 46 remains actuated from the time t when the envelope firstpasses over arm 45 until time t, when flap 38 has cleared arm 45.

The envelope cam switch 142 was permitted to reopen at time t' however,the actuation of double pole envelope trip switch 46 maintains power toboth envelope drive 116 and folder drive 110 to continue to move anenvelope and rotate envelope opening roller 56.

when flap 38 clears envelope trip switch 46, the drive to envelope feedrollers stops and the envelope is positioned as indicated in FIGS. 2 and6. The location of the trip arm 45 of switch 46 is so selected that theupper edge 52 of envelope 22 remains in contact with opening roller 56.The envelope remains at the stuffing station until a folded sheet hasbeen inserted during the next cycle of operation.

At the end of the cycle, at time t,, the cam latch switch is permittedto open again, thus terminating the cycle. When the next letter isdeposited on in-feed tray 18 and letter trip switch has been actuated attime t,,, the folder drive is again energized. At this time, envelopeopening roller 56 is rotated against edge 52 of pocket 54. Roller 56, asshown in FIG. 6, is formed of a pair of rollers whose peripheries 150are formed of a frictional material such as soft rubber. The rollersurfaces 150 carry small axially aligned slots 152 sized to receive edge52 of an envelope pocket 54. Slots 152 separate ridges 154 which peelspocket edge 52 away from the main body of envelope 22 as shown in FIG.7. This continuous peeling action maintains pocket 54 open and enables afolded letter to be passed over opening roller 46 and below envelopefeed roller 50 into pocket 54.

The rotation of opening roller 56 is the direction of arrow 58conveniently cooperates to hold pocket 54 open and stuff a folded sheetinto the pocket. The insertion of a folded sheet 12 into an envelope 22occurs at about time 1 (see FIG. 5). After the envelope has beenstuffed, it remains at stuffing station 48 until the envelope drive isenergized at time t,,. A new envelope is then brought down from tray 24and, at the same time, rotation of envelope feed rollers 50-50 causesthe stuffed envelope to be dispensed at about time before the nextenvelope arrives at time t Having thus described a folder-inserter inaccordance with the invention, its many advantages may be appreciated.The compact channel assembly permits a convenient mounting suitable foruse in small offices. The use of a rotating roller foropening of theenvelope pocket cooperates to facilitate stuffing of the envelopes sinceenvelope opening and stuffing are obtained by a common rotating element.

What is claimed is 1. An apparatus for opening the pockets of emptyenvelopes having closure flaps for sealing envelopes comprising a rollerhaving a paper edge gripping peripheral surface; l

means for holding an envelope with the opening edge of the envelopepocket in operative contact with the peripheral surface of the roller;and

means for driving the roller into rotation to engage the opening edge ofthe pocket of the held envelope and urge the pocket opening away to openthe pocket for stuffing with an enclosure.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the roller peripheralsurface is formed of a resilient high friction material and providedaround the perimeter to form circumferentially spaced ridges tosequentially engage the pocket edge during roller rotation and open theenvelope pocket.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said ridges areeffectively defined by slots that extend substantially parallel with theaxis of rotation of the roller.

4. An apparatus for stuffing enclosures into pockets of envelopes havingclosure flaps for sealing envelope pockets comprising means foradvancing enclosures towards an envelope stuffing'station; I

means for advancing envelopes from a stack towards the envelope stuffingstation;

a pocket opening roller arranged for operative contact with the openingedge of a pocket of an envelope;

means for rotating the pocket opening roller;

means for holding an envelope in stuffing relationship with an enclosurethat is advanced towards the envelope stuffing station with the pocketedge of the envelope in contact with said rotated opening roller to openthe pocket and enable the stuffing of the envelope pocket with saidenclosure.

5. The apparatus for stuffing empty envelopes as claimed in claim 4wherein the envelopes advancing means further includes an envelope stackfeeder shaped to receive a stack of envelopes with their flaps in pocketclosing position;

means for removing envelopes one at a time from the stack;

a flap engaging hook in operative contact with the front envelope in thestack and below the edge of the closed flap with the flap engaging hookbeing selectively shaped to catch the flap of an envelope being removedto orient the flap to an open position prior to arrival at the stuffingstation.

6. The apparatus for stuffing empty envelopes as claimed in claim 5wherein said holding means further includes a pair of closely spacedrotating envelope feed rollers oriented to receive envelopes removedfrom the stack;

means for sensing the passage of an envelope; and

means to terminate rotation of the envelope feed rollers when saidpocket opening edge is operatively engaged by the pocket opening roller.

7. The apparatus for stuffing envelopes as claimed in claim 6 whereinsaid envelope sensing means is formed of an envelope trip switch havinga trip arm, said trip arm being selectively located to be operativelyengaged by the flap of a passing envelope, with said means forterminating rotation including an envelope feed drive responsive to theactuation of the envelope trip switch and coupled to the envelope feedrollers.

8. The apparatus for stuffing envelopes as claimed in claim 7 andfurther including means for sensing the arrival of enclosures andproducing a signal indicative thereof; and

means effectively actuated by the enclosure arrival signal for rotatingthe pocket opening roller to open an envelope held at the envelopestuffing station.

9. The apparatus for stuffing envelopes as claimed in claim 8 whereinsaid enclosure advancing means further includes a plurality of foldingrollers and buckle chutes arranged to produce a folded enclosure forstuffing into an envelope, with said pocket opening roller driving meansalso being coupled to drive the folding rollers.

10. The apparatus for stuffing envelopes as claimed in claim 9 andfurther including a timing motor provided with a plurality of camcontrolled switches, said timing motor being actuated by the enclosurearrival signal, with one of said cam controlled switches being coupledto latch operation of the timing motor for a predetermined cycle, andwith other cam controlled switches being coupled respectively to theenvelope feed drive and the pocket opening roller driving means foroperation thereof during selected portions of the predetermined cycle.

11. The apparatus for stuffing empty envelopes as claimed in claim 7wherein the stack of envelopes, the flap engaging hook, the envelopetrip switch and the envelope stuffing station are generally arranged ina vertical orientation with the envelope stuffing station at the bottomend.

12. An apparatus for folding enclosures to be stuffed into pockets ofenvelopes having closure flaps for sealing the envelope pocketscomprising an envelope stuffing station;

means for advancing envelopes from a stack towards the envelope stuffingstation;

means for holding an envelope with its pocket open to receive anenclosure at the stuffing station; means for detecting enclosures;

means for folding enclosures, said folding means including a pluralityof folding rollers arranged in a generally vertical line, a first bucklechute located on one lateral side of the folding rollers to form a firstfold between a first pair of folding rollers and a second buckle chutelocated on the other lateral side of the folding rollers to form asecond fold between a second pair of folding rollers;

said stuffing station being located on said one side of the foldingrollers to receive the twice folded enclosure upon its emergence frombetween the second pair of folding rollers.

13. The apparatus for folding and stuffing enclosures as claimed inclaim 12 wherein the stuffing station is located along a downwardlyinclined path from the second pair of folding rollers.

14. The apparatus for folding and stuffing enclosures as claimed inclaim 13 and further including an enclosure infeed tray oriented with adownward incline in alignment with a pair of folding rollers to feedenclosures towards the first buckle chute;

an enclosure sensing element operatively disposed on the enclosureinfeed tray; and

means actuated by the enclosure sensing element for controlling theoperational cycle of the folding and stuffing apparatus. 15. A compactletter folder and envelope stuffing apparatus wherein envelopes have aclosure flap sized to overlap an outer edge of the pocket of theenvelope comprising a housing having means for advancing letters along aletter feed path and means for advancing envelopes along an envelopefeed path, said letter feed path and envelope feed path beingrespectively oriented to feed letters and envelopes generally towardseach other to meet in stuffing relationship at an envelope stuffingstation; letter folding means located along the letter feed path toreceive letters at one side and dispense folded letters from an oppositeside along the feed path in the vicinity of the envelope stuffingstation;

means located at the envelope stuffing station for retaining the closureflap of an envelope with the pocket of the retained envelope oriented toreceive folded letters dispensed along the letter feed path;

means, including a friction roller operatively located at the stuffingstation in contact with the outer pocket edge at the inside of theenvelope closure flap, for driving the friction roller into rotation tourge the outer pocket edge away from the retained closure flap and tostuff folded letters into the envelope pocket.

16. The compact letter folder and envelope stuffing apparatus as claimedin claim 15 wherein the letter folding means further includes aplurality of folding rollers each having an axis of rotation andarranged with their axes of rotations generally coplanar; and

a pair of buckle chutes disposed on opposite sides of the plurality ofrollers and positioned to form double folded letters with the unfoldedletters entering one side of the feed rollers and being dispensed on theopposite side with a double fold.

17. A compact enclosure folderand envelope inserter assembly comprisinga housing having a plurality of dove-tail shaped parallel spacedchannels on opposite internal walls of the housing, with channels on onewall being in predetermined alignment with the channels on the otherwall;

an enclosure feed located on one lateral end of the internal walls andsupported at a predetermined height along a channel;

an envelope feed located on another opposite lateral end of the internalwalls and supported at a predetermined height along a channel, saidenvelope feed being sized and shaped to support a stack of envelopes;

a plurality of folding rollers disposed in the path of the enclosurefeed and mounted along a common channel for general coplanar mounting oftheir axes of rotation;

a pair of buckle chutes located on opposite sides of the folding rollersto provide a double folded enclosure on the envelope feed side of theplurality of folding rollers; and

an envelope inserter station disposed in the path of the foldedenclosures and envelopes, said station including an envelope pocketopening roller mounted in a channel and supported therein at a heightselected to place the pocket opening roller in the path of a doublefolded enclosure emerging from between a pair of folding rollers, and apair of envelope feed rollers each mounted in a channel and spaced fromeach other to control the passing and retention of envelopes relative tothe pocket opening rollers, said pocket opening roller and the envelopefeed rollers being selectively spaced along their channels to placeedges of each envelope pocket in contact with the pocket opening rollerto insert a folded enclosure into the pocket of an envelope. 1

18. The compact enclosure folder and envelope inserter assembly asclaimed in claim 17 wherein the envelope stuffing station is locatedalong a downwardly inclined path from a plurality of folding rollers.

19. The compact enclosure folder and envelope inserter assembly asclaimed in claim 17 and further including an enclosure sensing elementfor generating a signal representative of the arrival of an enclosure tobe inserted into an envelope;

an envelope sensing element selectively located to sense the arrival ofan envelope at the envelope inserting station; and

means actuated by the enclosure arrival signal for controlling the feedof envelopes and the insertion of folded enclosures into openedenvelopes.

20. The compact enclosure folder and envelope inserter assembly asclaimed in claim 19 wherein said controlling means further includesmotor being each actuated by a cam controlled switch to initiaterespectively an enclosure folding and envelope feeding from the stack,with the envelope sensing element being coupled to said envelope drivemotor to terminate feeding of an envelope upon its arrival at theenvelope insertion statlon.

1. An apparatus for opening the pockets of empty envelopes havingclosure flaps for sealing envelopes comprising a roller having a paperedge gripping peripheral surface; means for holding an envelope with theopening edge of the envelope pocket in operative contact with theperipheral surface of the roller; and means for driving the roller intorotation to engage the opening edge of the pocket of the held envelopeand urge the pocket opening away to open the pocket for stuffing with anenclosure.
 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the rollerperipheral surface is formed of a resilient high friction material andprovided around the perimeter to form circumferentially spaced ridges tosequentially engage the pocket edge during roller rotation and open theenvelope pocket.
 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein saidridges are effectively defined by slots that extend substantiallyparallel with the axis of rotation of the roller.
 4. An apparatus forstuffing enclosures into pockets of envelopes having closure flaps forsealing envelope pockets comprising means for advancing enclosurestowards an envelope stuffing station; means for advancing envelopes froma stack towards the envelope stuffing station; a pocket opening rollerarranged for operative contact with the opening edge of a pocket of anenvelope; means for rotating the pocket opening roller; means forholding an envelope in stuffing relationship with an enclosure that isadvanced towards the envelope stuffing station with the pocket edge ofthe envelope in contact with said rotated opening roller to open thepocket and enable the stuffing of the envelope pocket with saidenclosure.
 5. The apparatus for stuffing empty envelopes as claimed inclaim 4 wherein the envelopes advancing means further includes anenvelope stack feeder shaped to receive a stack of envelopes with theirflaps in pocket closing position; means for removing envelopes one at atime from the stack; a flap engaging hook in operative contact with thefront envelope in the stack and below the edge of the closed flap withthe flap engaging hook being selectively shaped to catch the flap of anenvelope being removed to orient the flap to an open position prior toarrival at the stuffing station.
 6. The apparatus for stuffing emptyenvelopes as claimed in claim 5 wherein said holding means furtherincludes a pair of closely spaced rotating envelope feed rollersoriented to receive envelopes removed from the stack; means for sensingthe passage of an envelope; and means to terminate rotation of theenvelope feed rollers when said pocket opening edge is operativelyengaged by the pocket opening roller.
 7. The apparatus for stuffingenvelopes as claimed in claim 6 wherein said envelope sensing means isformed of an envelope trip switch having a trip arm, said trip arm beingselectively located to be operatively engaged by the flap of a passingenvelope, with said means for terminating rotation including an envelopefeed drive responsive to the actuation of the envelope trip switch andcoupled to the envelope feed rollers.
 8. The apparatus for stuffingenvelopes as claimed in claim 7 and further including means for sensingthe arrival of enclosures and producing a signal indicative thereof; andmeans effectively actuated by the enclosure arrival signal for rotatingthe pocket opening roller to open an envelope held at the envelopestuffing station.
 9. The apparatus for stuffing envelopes as claimed inclaim 8 wherein said enclosure advancing means further includes aplurality of folding rollers and buckle chutes arranged to produce afolded enclosure for stuffing into an envelope, with said pocket openingroller driving means alsO being coupled to drive the folding rollers.10. The apparatus for stuffing envelopes as claimed in claim 9 andfurther including a timing motor provided with a plurality of camcontrolled switches, said timing motor being actuated by the enclosurearrival signal, with one of said cam controlled switches being coupledto latch operation of the timing motor for a predetermined cycle, andwith other cam controlled switches being coupled respectively to theenvelope feed drive and the pocket opening roller driving means foroperation thereof during selected portions of the predetermined cycle.11. The apparatus for stuffing empty envelopes as claimed in claim 7wherein the stack of envelopes, the flap engaging hook, the envelopetrip switch and the envelope stuffing station are generally arranged ina vertical orientation with the envelope stuffing station at the bottomend.
 12. An apparatus for folding enclosures to be stuffed into pocketsof envelopes having closure flaps for sealing the envelope pocketscomprising an envelope stuffing station; means for advancing envelopesfrom a stack towards the envelope stuffing station; means for holding anenvelope with its pocket open to receive an enclosure at the stuffingstation; means for detecting enclosures; means for folding enclosures,said folding means including a plurality of folding rollers arranged ina generally vertical line, a first buckle chute located on one lateralside of the folding rollers to form a first fold between a first pair offolding rollers and a second buckle chute located on the other lateralside of the folding rollers to form a second fold between a second pairof folding rollers; said stuffing station being located on said one sideof the folding rollers to receive the twice folded enclosure upon itsemergence from between the second pair of folding rollers.
 13. Theapparatus for folding and stuffing enclosures as claimed in claim 12wherein the stuffing station is located along a downwardly inclined pathfrom the second pair of folding rollers.
 14. The apparatus for foldingand stuffing enclosures as claimed in claim 13 and further including anenclosure infeed tray oriented with a downward incline in alignment witha pair of folding rollers to feed enclosures towards the first bucklechute; an enclosure sensing element operatively disposed on theenclosure infeed tray; and means actuated by the enclosure sensingelement for controlling the operational cycle of the folding andstuffing apparatus.
 15. A compact letter folder and envelope stuffingapparatus wherein envelopes have a closure flap sized to overlap anouter edge of the pocket of the envelope comprising a housing havingmeans for advancing letters along a letter feed path and means foradvancing envelopes along an envelope feed path, said letter feed pathand envelope feed path being respectively oriented to feed letters andenvelopes generally towards each other to meet in stuffing relationshipat an envelope stuffing station; letter folding means located along theletter feed path to receive letters at one side and dispense foldedletters from an opposite side along the feed path in the vicinity of theenvelope stuffing station; means located at the envelope stuffingstation for retaining the closure flap of an envelope with the pocket ofthe retained envelope oriented to receive folded letters dispensed alongthe letter feed path; means, including a friction roller operativelylocated at the stuffing station in contact with the outer pocket edge atthe inside of the envelope closure flap, for driving the friction rollerinto rotation to urge the outer pocket edge away from the retainedclosure flap and to stuff folded letters into the envelope pocket. 16.The compact letter folder and envelope stuffing apparatus as claimed inclaim 15 wherein the letter folding means further includes a pluralityof folding rollers each having aN axis of rotation and arranged withtheir axes of rotations generally coplanar; and a pair of buckle chutesdisposed on opposite sides of the plurality of rollers and positioned toform double folded letters with the unfolded letters entering one sideof the feed rollers and being dispensed on the opposite side with adouble fold.
 17. A compact enclosure folder and envelope inserterassembly comprising a housing having a plurality of dove-tail shapedparallel spaced channels on opposite internal walls of the housing, withchannels on one wall being in predetermined alignment with the channelson the other wall; an enclosure feed located on one lateral end of theinternal walls and supported at a predetermined height along a channel;an envelope feed located on another opposite lateral end of the internalwalls and supported at a predetermined height along a channel, saidenvelope feed being sized and shaped to support a stack of envelopes; aplurality of folding rollers disposed in the path of the enclosure feedand mounted along a common channel for general coplanar mounting oftheir axes of rotation; a pair of buckle chutes located on oppositesides of the folding rollers to provide a double folded enclosure on theenvelope feed side of the plurality of folding rollers; and an envelopeinserter station disposed in the path of the folded enclosures andenvelopes, said station including an envelope pocket opening rollermounted in a channel and supported therein at a height selected to placethe pocket opening roller in the path of a double folded enclosureemerging from between a pair of folding rollers, and a pair of envelopefeed rollers each mounted in a channel and spaced from each other tocontrol the passing and retention of envelopes relative to the pocketopening rollers, said pocket opening roller and the envelope feedrollers being selectively spaced along their channels to place edges ofeach envelope pocket in contact with the pocket opening roller to inserta folded enclosure into the pocket of an envelope.
 18. The compactenclosure folder and envelope inserter assembly as claimed in claim 17wherein the envelope stuffing station is located along a downwardlyinclined path from a plurality of folding rollers.
 19. The compactenclosure folder and envelope inserter assembly as claimed in claim 17and further including an enclosure sensing element for generating asignal representative of the arrival of an enclosure to be inserted intoan envelope; an envelope sensing element selectively located to sensethe arrival of an envelope at the envelope inserting station; and meansactuated by the enclosure arrival signal for controlling the feed ofenvelopes and the insertion of folded enclosures into opened envelopes.20. The compact enclosure folder and envelope inserter assembly asclaimed in claim 19 wherein said controlling means further includes atiming motor energized by the enclosure arrival signal, said timingmotor being provided with a plurality of cam controlled switchesactuated by the timing motor; an enclosure drive motor operativelycoupled to the folding rollers and the pocket opening roller; anenvelope drive motor coupled to the envelope feed rollers; and with saidenclosure drive motor and envelope drive motor being each actuated by acam controlled switch to initiate respectively an enclosure folding andenvelope feeding from the stack, with the envelope sensing element beingcoupled to said envelope drive motor to terminate feeding of an envelopeupon its arrival at the envelope insertion station.